It made for a great picture, a great headline and a pretty great story too last year at the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon. All through the course, the world’s leading triathletes, the Brownlee brothers, hung by each other, having built up a comfortable lead on the rest of the field.
By the time of the 10km-run, they were five minutes ahead of the rest and had zero seconds between them. Neither one kicked on, despite Alistair looking more haggard than Jonny.
Instead, as the final few metres approached, the brothers unfurled a Yorkshire flag and crossed the line together, a nice choreographed touch to proceedings. It is something they had done before, even on tour events, which Abu Dhabi at the time was not.
At an invitational, or exhibition event, even in as gruelling a discipline as the triathlon, the gesture did not feel out of place.
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But at a competitive event, with points at stake? It is unlikely to be repeated this year, however, and not only because Alistair may not be at the event. This year the Abu Dhabi Triathlon is not an exhibition event — it is the opening race of the International Triathlon Union’s (ITU) World Series.
It will be the first of ten races through the year, across the world in Auckland, the Gold Coast, Cape Town, London and Chicago among others and a vital first step for triathletes beginning preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
As it turns out, the plan all along in Abu Dhabi was to graduate the triathlon from an exhibition event to a formal part of the circuit.
“Our strategy was always to make this a tour event, that is a target of Abu Dhabi always for any event,” said Talal Al Hashemi, the technical affairs director at the Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC). It is ADSC who have taken over the running of the event from Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, which had run it, with success, for the last five years.
The agreement with the ITU is to stage the event here for the next five years. As much as it is an opportunity for Abu Dhabi to showcase its potential as an international outdoor sporting venue, it is also a strategic step outward by the ITU.
Abu Dhabi will not only become the first venue in the Middle East to host an official ITU event, it will also be, after Yokohama, only the second venue in all of Asia to do so.
“It is very important to us that everyone around the world has the opportunity to compete in triathlons,” an ITU spokesperson said. “Abu Dhabi is integral in the sport’s expansion in the Middle East because of its location and its resources.
The ability to host an international sporting event outside of an indoor arena, Al Hashemi pointed out, was also important for Abu Dhabi. And though the question of climate comes up every year the triathlon comes to town, March has always provided near-ideal conditions.
“The weather and time of year is very important in when we can organise a triathlon,” the ITU spokesperson said. “It’s quite complicated to fit eight to 10 races into the year with varying weather patterns.
“We also have to consider giving athletes ample off-season to recover and train. That said, March was an ideal time for athletes to do an early sprint race to test their winter training, and traditionally hasn’t been so hot in that time of year that it would be dangerous for athletes.”
The switch has been seamless, with cosmetic changes to the nature of the course the only aspect people are likely to notice. It has been redesigned, in line with ITU logistical requirements, to make it more spectator-friendly.
More than before, when it stretched to as far as the Yas Marina circuit, the entire race will be centred around the Corniche. Participation remains as high — 600 triathletes, including the world’s best, from outside the UAE will take part and nearly 1600 altogether. And it is unlikely there will be a joint winner.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
